Nightlife

Canadian electro-funk duo Chromeo hits the Strip April 13 to kick off a monthly DJ residency at Pure. Dave 1 and P-Thugg formed as a hip-hop project in high school, but today, you can hear the influence of Rick James and Parliament in sexy, get-down tracks like “Bonafide Lovin’” and “Night by Night.” We spoke with keyboard/synth-master P-Thugg about what’s in store for Friday (hint: not EDM) and why they just can’t shake the funk.

Chromeo usually performs as a live act. Why do a DJ residency in Vegas?

We DJed a pool party [at the Palms last May] and really liked it. It was a good party vibe and people were up for anything, so we decided to look into doing a residency. ... What we’d really like to do is start playing more live shows in Vegas. We have lots of fans on both coasts and have toured it all, but we’ve never come through Vegas a lot, and we’d like to change that.

The Details

Chromeo

April 13, doors at 10 p.m.

$30 men, $20 women

Pure Nightclub, 731-7110

Do you feel like you need to cater to the EDM scene that’s so popular here?

No, EDM is really not our type of music. We’re not going to be creating stuff live and making music in the way that those big DJs on the Strip do. We’re just musician bozos playing records, and we want to get people to dance. ... We’ll play stuff like Duck Sauce, Fool’s Gold, our own songs and then some old classics like Chaka Khan and New Edition.

How does DJing compare to playing live?

Playing live, people know what to expect from us, in terms of it being songs they know from our records. But a DJ set for us is hard because we’re not really DJs in the traditional sense. But it’s a fun challenge and we want to learn. ... It’s hard on your brain because you’re constantly watching the crowd and worrying about whether or not they’re gonna dance to the songs you pick.

Your last album, Business Casual, was sleek, kind of a stylistic departure for Chromeo. What’s next for you musically?

Right now we’re working on a new album. ... I listen to a lot of vinyl; it’s a great way to find unexpected kinds of music, so a lot of times that will end up influencing a record. I think for this album we’re going to try to have more instrumentation, more strings and horns and things like that. We want to push it every time we make an album, but ultimately we’re still going to have the same sound. We can’t change that—the funk is our blood, so it’s always gonna be funky. We’re just starting to polish it more.

What do you guys plan to do in Vegas when you’re not DJing?

Go to the movies? That’s really all we do in Vegas. ... I’d like to check out old Vegas, or maybe find a place to buy vinyl. I gamble sometimes. I won $900 bucks last time in roulette. They just kept bringing over those White Russians.